Views from/around the Mile High Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain. The “Load Limit 40” sign got to me (more below), so waited until I was sure no more than 40 people were on it before I ventured forward. Not to mention the wind – I had sea legs after that jaunt!

2) An extensive survey of 10,000 visitors found that 30% of the women, and 12.7% of the men come all the way up here and then do not cross the bridge!

3) No matter how brave you are, if you’re a person of normal imagination, it’s impossible to approach the bridge without wondering if it COULD fall down, and wondering, IF it could, might it not do so with you in the middle of it. Visitors would often hold back from stepping onto the bridge if one or two other people were already on it. Hugh Morton had an ingenious solution. He put up a sign: Load Limit 40 Persons. He had figured that probably there would never be more than 40 persons on the bridge at one time, and so 40 persons it became. Actually, the bridge could hold 500 people with no trouble at all. But as soon as that 40 Persons sign went up, people would count, and if there were only 15 or 20 other people out there, they’d see that it was safe.